NASHVILLE (AP) — A top aide for Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada has admitted using cocaine in a legislative office building.

Chief of Staff Cade Cothren on Monday told news outlets he used the drug at work several years ago but no longer does so.

But Cothren didn't give a clear response to allegations that during that time frame he also sent texts in which he used racial slurs and called black people idiots. WTVF-TV first reported on the texts last week.

The TV station quotes the 31-year-old aide as saying in an email Monday that because the texts allegedly happened years ago, "I can sincerely say it is hard for me to remember things with absolute clarity."